Deal With It
by YesItsRaining
Summary: My take on what happened when Paige came back to Rosewood


"Here we go a latte for you and an Americano for me." Emily said while giving Alison the paper cup and sitting down on the chair next to her. It was a quiet afternoon at The Brew so there weren't many people around, giving both of them more peace and allowing them to talk calmly. The two girls have been spending a lot time together since A.D. attacked Alison at her house, making Emily become more protective of the blonde, getting to the point where she doesn't want her first love out of her sight for long periods of time; this attack had given her some sort of déjà vu to five years ago. Besides she did enjoy the time spent together and the blonde has never complained about it.

"Thanks, Em." She took a sip of her coffee and put it down on the table. She really needed the caffeine today, especially since they were supposed to meet the girls and talk about Elliot, or Archer, whatever his name is; more like asshole. "So they are looking for a new swim coach at school and I may or may not have mentioned your name. Before you say anything, I just thought that you would like the idea given how much you loved swimming." Alison started fidgeting with the coffee cup. What if she had over stepped and the brunette wasn't happy with her, she seemed happy with her bartending job, who was her to interfere with it. "Plus they liked the idea due to you being the star of the swim team in high school. Its ok if you don't want though I can always tell them you're not interested."

"Ali." The brunette cut her off while putting her hand on the blonde's arm. The brunette was finding her rant adorable but didn't want her to suffer any more. "It's ok. I actually love the fact that you thought of me mentioned my name, so thank you. I don't mind bartending, but being a swim coach? Hell yes." She actually loved the idea of being a swim coach, she may not be able to swim anymore but she will actually enjoy getting the second best option, coach. Plus she would be working at the same place as Alison; therefore she could make sure A.D. doesn't try to pull off anything again, or that's what she kept telling herself.

"You don't have to th-" She was interrupted by another brunette standing next to the table.

"Hello, Emily. I didn't know you were back in Rosewood."

"Paige?" You could say that seeing her ex here had surprised Emily, especially since the last time she was in Rosewood she had ran to California to be safe. "Hey, what are you doing here?" She stood up to give her ex a friendly hug before sitting back again.

"I've heard there is an open position for swim coach at Rosewood High, so I came to give it a try."

"Oh." Great. She actually liked seeing her ex-girlfriend again since they broke things off in California, but the fact that she was going to be competition for a job she wanted throw her a bit off, especially since Paige had a degree and she was still trying to finish hers at Hollis... The girls stayed in an awkward silence for moment before Emily's phone started ringing. "I have to get this; I'll come back in a bit." The brunette stood up and left to take the call, leaving the other two alone.

Paige was the first to break the silence. "Alison." She said while moving the chair the other ex-swimmer was previously using so she could sit in front of the blue eyed girl.

"Paige." The moment the she had seen the 'Dora-wannabe' girl standing next to them, her good mood had suddenly disappeared and the fact that she had come all smiley and charming towards her mermaid, yes her mermaid, has annoyed her even more.

"You know, I never thought that the great Alison DiLaurentis would have stayed in Rosewood after high school, and as an English teacher may I add!. I always thought that the Queen B would have married a rich guy and be travelling around the world, showing up at fancy places or events as his trophy wife. Who would have though, eh? Life does really take a lot of twists and turns." She smirked knowing she had struck a nerve on the blonde.

"Yes, it sure does." Seriously, this girl was getting on her nerves. Who does she thinks she is? To come here interrupt her alone time with Emily, and start talking like that about her. Well, she tough wrong. "I mean, who would have thought that Paige McCullers, the swim team captain, well… it was after Emily stopped swimming, because let's be real, you were always at her shadow." She took a small pause to give her the DiLaurentis' signature smirk. "But either way, as I was saying, who would have thought that a star swimmer that got into Stanford, with a scholarship may I add, would end up coming back to Rosewood to be a high school swim coach." They fell in silence only to start glaring at each other. It was soon interrupted by Emily coming back from that call.

"Alison that was Spencer asking if we can come now. Why don't you get in the car and wait for me?" She waited for the blonde to stop glaring at Paige and to stand up to give her the keys of the car so she could wait inside. She had heard everything the blonde had said so she had sent her away before things escalated more. "Paige, it was lovely seeing you, I have to go now but maybe we can catch up some other time." She didn't wait for her to answer before she turned around to go to the car. She hadn't liked at all the way the blonde has gone off on Paige; it may have been hot to see her like that again, but seriously? It wasn't enough that A.D. was after them, so she decided to be making even more people be mad at her.

* * *

"What the hell took you so long?" Asked Spencer as soon as she opened the door of the reformed barn and stepping to the side so the two girls could come inside. Aria and Hanna were already there so they were the last two to show up.

"Given by the faces that they are wearing, I think you should ask, what's wrong with you two?" Said Aria from where she was standing next to the bar, while Hanna was sitting on a barstool. Both of them threw curious glances at the two girls who just entered the barn.

"Nothing, Ali just thought that it would be a good idea to lash out at Paige." The ex-swimmer answered while throwing a glare at Alison, only to have another one thrown her way.

"Wait, what did you say to her?" It didn't surprised the liars that Hanna would be more interested in the drama rather than in A.D.

"It was nothing; she just said some things and I just stood up for myself" Like seriously, why was Emily so mad at her. Hasn't she been enough played and stepped on?

"Ohh… What did she say then?" it seemed like it was a conversation where each girl had tried to get to the other one, but the fact that Emily and Alison were getting mad over it only made Hanna found a new source of entertainment.

"Hanna!" Aria and Spencer shouted at the blonde. You could already feel the tension in the room between the other two, so they didn't need to have their bubbly friend add more fire to the flame.

"It doesn't matter. Can we just talk about what we came here for?" Emily sat on the couch with her arms over her face. She was so done with this conversation that she didn't want to talk about it anymore.

"Of course you don't care…" Four heads turned to look at Ali, and while one particular brunette was throwing daggers her way, the other two had their eyes wide open from the shock. The other blonde was finding this very amusing. That comment had been supposed to be a mumble and only been heard by her, but apparently it had come out much louder. One part of her wanted to hide behind something, too bad she was too stubborn and had too much pride for it. She closed her arms and threw an arched eyebrow in the direction of the brunette that tends to take her breath away on a regular basis.

"Problem?" Emily couldn't understand why the blonde was being so stubborn about it and wouldn't let go.

"Yes." It was short yet challenging, enough to let Emily know that she wasn't getting any of it.

"Then deal with it." It had actually come out a lot harsher that what she intended, but the bartender really wanted to get this conversation over since the girls were in the room listening to everything and she wanted to get over with the A.D. talk. They could talk about it out later.

"If those two had gotten married then they would have told us, right?" Hanna said getting close to Aria and Spencer so that only those two could hear her. Emily and Alison were already being very stubborn, she didn't need them to 'join forces' and go after her.

* * *

"I'm really tired from school, so I'm going to head out. Good night" Alison said while standing from her place on the couch. In reality she wasn't tired, she had only had two classes today; but this entire thing with Emily over Pigskin, yes, Pigskin, had frustrated her a lot, so she couldn't wait to get home and take a relaxing bath while drinking some wine.

"I'll drive you." Said the ex-swimmer while standing up too and picking up her phone and keys from the coffee table.

"It's ok my house is right there, I can walk." God she didn't want to start fighting with her mermaid again.

"Then I'll walk you there." The brunette insisted. She really wanted to know why Ali has gone off at Paige like that, not to mention her reaction in Spencer's barn; and this time she wasn't going to let it go.

"Emily."

"Alison."

There was a small an awkward silence in the barn between the five girls; three of them exchanging looks due to the tension radiating from the two I-love-you-but-I'm-afraid-to-admit-it girls, who were having a stare down.

"Ok, I'm too tired for this. Come if you want." The blonde turned around and went to exit the barn, while the brunette followed her outside.

The walk from the barn to Ali's house was silent due to both of the girls being deep in thought. The brunette was trying to clear her thoughts and coming up with a way of starting the conversation and the blonde trying to prepare herself for the questions that she knew where going to come out from the swimmer's mouth. When they reached the porch both stood there, none said a word until Emily decided to just ask directly.

"Alison" she knew that by calling her that way it'll catch her attention and the ex-queen B would know that she is being serious. "What was all that about?" her tone was soft.

"It was nothing Emily, I was just worked up let it go." She turned around and went for the door.

"No" Em grabbed her arm, preventing her from leaving "we're going to talk about it. What did Paige say to you to make you react like that?" she sent the blonde those puppies eyes that would make you melt on the spot.

"Nothing, she just keeps thinking that I'm still the same person that I was before I disappeared and just made a comment."

"Ok, I get it." Emily let go of Alison's arm and grabbed her hand instead, while doing small circles with her thumb. "Why did you reacted that way in Spencer's barn?"

"Why do you think Emily?" her hand felt like it was on fire from Em's movements, she couldn't think straight because of it so she took her hand from the brunette's grip. "It seems like every single time something happens with Paige you always get on her side, without even knowing the full story. You'll believe her any day over me. And it's not fair, haven't I've been through enough to make you believe in me for once?" She had gotten frustrated and had just burst out everything she was thinking.

"Ali, no. I'm actually always defending **you** , with the girls, Paige and everyone that decides to accuse you of something" How could the teacher say that, she has always gotten into arguments from defending her.

"It doesn't seem like it" the blonde sassed.

"Just because you weren't there when it happened doesn't mean that I didn't do it" by now their stubbornness was playing a big role on the conversation.

"Well I would actually believe you if it wasn't for all the times **you** have turned your back to me and believed what they'd tell you."

That last comment have actually left the ex-swimmer speechless, she couldn't argue that point since it was right, the girls and her had use any excuse to doubt the blonde and turn their backs to her, I mean, she even went to prison once… but then later their tried to get her out of it, it'll have to help somehow.

While the brunette seemed to be having and argument with herself, the blonde kept observing her, trying to decipher what was going through her head. She touched her arm to get her attention, and when she looked up they held each other's stares. After being like that for a few seconds the brunette broke the moment by softly speaking. "I'm sorry, I just…"

"It's ok Em" the blonde grabbed her hand the same way the other girl had done to her moments ago. "I already forgave you guys a long time ago, it just… I was getting frustrated so it just came out." She threw the other girl a smile, to reassure her, which was returned. "Do you want to come in?"

"Yes."

* * *

 **Hey, I hoped you guys like it. It hasn't been proof read so I'm sorry for any mistakes.**

 **I was also thinking on doing a follow up chapter, since I feel like Marlene teasing emison but not making it happen. Although I fell in love with these two because of the moments of peace between them.**

 **Anyways can't wait for April 18** **th** **to watch my ship rise.**


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